Syrians protest against Charlie Hebdo in rebel-held areas

Thousands of people rallied on Friday in several rebel-held areas across Syria, protesting against the "insulting" caricatures of Prophet Muhammad published by French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, according to a monitor group.

Protesters slammed the "insulting" caricatures, calling for showing respect to the religion and never insult their holy figures, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Charlie Hebdo recently published a new caricature depicting Islam prophet Muhammad, which the majority of Muslims around the world has condemned as insulting.

The weekly satirical magazine made the move in retaliation to an attack earlier this month that killed 12 people. The attack was carried out by armed men in order to take revenge of the magazine for "insulting" prophet Muhammad in previous editions.

The Syrian officials condemned the attacks as "terrorism" and no protest took place in the government-controlled areas across the country.

The protests took place mainly in the northern province of Aleppo, the northern countryside of the central province of Homs, the countryside of the eastern province of Deir al-Zour and other rebel-held areas, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Almost all of the rebel-held areas in Syria have fallen to Islamist groups, which explains the high turnout in condemning the caricatures in such areas.

Still, the "insulting" cartoons have triggered a huge wave of rage among the Syrians in general, who condemned the double-standards in advocating the freedom of speech. Endit